Trip to Florida, Finishing my GE Internship, First Half-Marathon
Recapping my trip to Florida over the weekend, I have to say it was a memorable few days. Not only will it be the last time I see friends and family for quite some time, but my stay was not tempered by arguments or difficulties. Instead, I was able to enjoy the beach (and a nasty sunburn) with AJ and Dani all day Friday, attend SunFest and enjoy the fireworks display later that evening, watch non-stop premiership action Saturday morning (go on Gunners!), golf with Ruwan and Paul Sunday afternoon (we haven't missed a beat), ride along the beach listening to the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and then spend the evening and early morning drinking wine and talking with Casey as the waves crashed under the moonlight. Also, as a kind of bonus, mom helped me buy a camera for my upcoming trip to China. I will be using it in the coming days to upload images of my workplace, the refrigerator I have helped design, and possibly even a few glamour shots of me! Needless to say, this past weekend really was a great way to end on a high note and I am grateful for having such a close family and close set of friends.
I met with my manager today for my final evaluation, and I was fortunate enough to finish in very good stead with General Electric. My end of work presentation last week to the GE "big wigs" could not have gone much better, and it has put me in an excellent position to pursue the Edison Engineering Program (work for 2 years as a design engineer [55k] while earning my masters degree from Georgia Tech or Purdue for free). This is still a long way off for me because I am only a sophomore, but it is the first tangible career path that I have come across. In the more immediate future, I need to decide where I am going to coop [intern] next. My hope is to find a position with GE in China so that I can gain international exposure and extend my stay abroad into the Spring of next year, but I will need to find exactly what opportunities exist before I make any definite plans. I have been in touch with Siemens, IBM, and GE Research in Shanghai, but none of the openings seem particularly appealing. My primary strength, which was reiterated to me by my manager today, lies in communicating effectively in a technically rigorous environment. I am fearful that abandoning my grasp of the English language for Mandarin could hamper this strength, but the flip-side is that I could develop an entirely new skill set if I am thrown into a sharp learning curve. Either way, I have time before I make my decision, and I am seeing concrete rewards for all of my achievements and efforts. The opportunities are wonderful, but they also make choosing difficult.